The DC Minyan is a lay-led Jewish congregation in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., with programs including Shabbat/Sabbath and Holy Day worship services, education, social events (for singles, couples, and families), retreats, and opportunities for tikkun olam, improving and transforming the world. The majority of its worship services, educational programs, and special events take place at the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center (DCJCC). The group was created with a dual commitment to halacha/Jewish law and egalitarianism. The leaders and members of the community seek to create "a warm and intellectually engaging community for prayer and study." Additionally, Beth Tritter, one of the group's four co-founders, states that the minyan has been able to create worship services that exhibit "ruach [spirit] and kavanah [spiritual focus]." The DC Minyan is part of a growing number of similar lay-led programs within the national and international Jewish community, such as New York's Kehilat Hadar and Jerusalem's Shira Hadasha and Kehilat Kedem, that are sometimes described as being part of "the independent minyan movement." The name, minyan, comes from the Hebrew word (מנין) for the prayer quorum traditionally required for a full Jewish prayer service. History The DC Minyan first began meeting in February 2002, at Luna Books, a bookstore in Dupont Circle. Its original founders were a mixture of young Jews from Judaism's Conservative movement and the Modern Orthodox group within Orthodox Judaism, who were in search of a setting for worship that combined traditional prayers and rituals with an egalitarian approach to the inclusion of women. (The four original founders actually had "been raised" within three movements of Judaism—Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform, but at the time of their meeting, two were attending Conservative synagogues, and two were attending Orthodox synagogues.) As the congregation grew, it moved to its present location, The Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center, in the late Spring of 2002. For special occasions, such as worship services for the High Holy Days, when space requirements or scheduling needs make it impossible to use the Center, the congregation has used a number of other nearby buildings, including the Westin Embassy Row Hotel. Worship, education, and community life Programs at the DC Minyan include guided individual study; study group including the DC Beit Midrash (cosponsored by the DCJCC); celebrations of life-cycle events; and volunteer opportunities, often linked to programs at the DCJCC. The congregational website offers audio files for individual prayers